A Tribute to Booooka

Boooke, also known as Becca Michealsen, turned 23 yesterday. This makes her older than me, however, what makes her wiser is that, 2 days ago, she graduated college...finally. I wish I could have been with her to celebrate her cute face and gangly legs but instead, I stared at this picture, because it reminds me of nearly every reason I love our friendship:

• We love to dance
• We are serious (game faces) about dancing
• On July 31st we will dance our hearts out to celebrate love
• She gave me the dress she is wearing

Congrats on being done with college and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, dear dear friend. I am counting down to your return on May 25th.

It's Never too Late

I have always heard of girls doing this and always missed the sleepovers where it happened. Last week, Lauren and I had a sleepover with our small group girls and i FINALLY got to experience an in-home ear piercing. It went as follows:


1. Numb the ear with two ice cubes for 30 minutes. (Apparently this is the worst part but most crucial. makes sense...)

2. Place a dot on the desired location of new ear piercing. Choose wisely. There was also a lot of freaking out in this step, however, I don't know if that is necessary. So step 2 has an optional panic attack by both the piercer and the piercee:

3. This step is a team effort. You need a brave subject (TJ), an even braver piercer (Anne), a cool mom (Barbs), a hair holder-backer (Krista), a hand holder (Lauren), a photographer that can barely keep it together (me), and an encourager of all parties (Sadye) that simultaneously blocks the photographer who can't keep it together due to the shock of a needle being shoved through cartilage before her vcery eyes (i mean, forgive me!!):

Now they are talking tattoos. Hopefully no post to follow.

Metal Mouth

A very odd duty I have been given as a bridesmaid is what I will call Retainer Accountability. "What is that?", you ask. Well, I live with Britt, a bride-to-be, and she wants to be better about wearing her retainers at night. She said it would be easier if she had an accountability partner, and that my friends, is where I come in.

This experience is truly a win-win because I want to be good about my straight teeth (Thanks mom and dad), but also be a good bridesmaid. It was an easy decision.

Last night was night 3 of Retainer Accountability. Britt was at a sleepover and left hers at home. As her partner in accountability, there will be consequences. Suggestions are welcome.

Because I think this is the only time I will ever blog about retainers, I will share all my retainer facts in this single post. The only really important thing to explain, as any true retainer wearer knows, is what they look like: My top retainer is pink stripes that glow in the dark with 4 dinosaurs while the bottom is lined with hearts on a pink tint. The dinosaurs may be the one surprise to you. I agree, it is uncommon to find them on retainers, let alone those that belong to a girl that picked them out at age 16. I was weirdly into dinosaurs. We all have our things.

A Landmark of Sorts

I live in a very beautiful, very sheltered bubble. It goes by the name of Santa Barbara.

This last weekend I traveled out of country, well county, but it felt like a different country. I went to Bakersfield. This wasn't my first visit but when my trip to Walmart was life changing, I realized, far too quickly that I live in this bubble.

I spent the weekend preparing for wedding #2 that will be there, in the brides hometown. There was ALOT of wedding activities and ribbon and labels and flowers and decisions and stamps but looking back on the weekend with the girls, I would have to say a highlite was Chickfilet. Yes, the fast food chain. We don't have one in my bubble, but we should. The food was fine, but the service...well, let me tell you about the service**.

Have you ever been to a fast food restaurant where they walk around offering refills on your soda? Have you ever asked for something at any restaurant where the response is always, "my pleasure"? Have you ever heard of a fast food restaurant being closed on Sundays because they respect the sabbath?

Well if you answered "no" to any of these questions, that means you have not been to Chick-fil-A. The food is fine, a little healthier than most fast food, but it really doesn't matter because the whole experience is so magical. On our way out, an employee even remembered that Jolie had been debating what to order, and asked her how her salad was. I mean, come on! That is service.

**I should get paid for this post. right?

Why no blogging for 2 weeks, you ask?

Let’s be honest, most of you aren’t asking this, nor have you noticed. But it is the title of this post nonetheless (I think it is fantastic that this is all one word not just because it looks cool but because it is correct). I will not be answering my own question but rather in true Dwight Shrute fashion, I will give you some facts:

Fact: the average life of a blog is 1.5 years or something (can you see that I have done elaborate research?)

Fact: I have been so sick of my juvenile lay-out of this blog and suffering from intense blog envy. Yet, don’t have the energy or sincere desire to change it, so I avoid it.

Fact: Wedding season has officially begun. Not the actual weddings I am in, but the showers and hoopla that lead up to them all. This takes time.

Fact: I work at a computer all day and don’t want to get on one at home to post anything.

Fact: I think of blog posts all the time and they are so clever or meaningful or funny and then I forget them when the time comes to posting so I conclude they are in fact none of those things.

Fact: A certain someone told me blogs are “shameless self promotion”.

Sub-fact: I believe there are many, many points to refute this as well as many, many reasons to have a blog for other reasons, HOWEVER it has made me question certain posts that would otherwise go up.

Fact: I am not subtly telling you this is the end, just giving you some facts.

Fact: With 7 weddings this Summer, 5 of which I get to be a part of, there is no way I’ll be able to keep stories and pictures from any faithful readers.

Fancy that

SCUBA is an acronym.
Who knew?
Self Containted Underwater Breathing Apparatus.
I learned this last night as I was falling asleep and Jolie was keeping me awake rambling nonsense.
It blew my mind I had gone 22 years of life and never known this.
Thank you for your ramblings, Jolie.

Sleeping Bag Wresting: why not?

One of my favorite games was played last night at Younglife (see above). It is fairly simply: 2 people place sleeping bags on their head, wrestling ensues. The correct way to play is to have the students start on their knees. This was completely ignored last night. This shot is the girl v. girl round, the only picture I have because the guy v. guy round i was covering my eyes and praying.

The winner of the two rounds battle it out at the end but the guy doesn't know that we let the girl go without a sleeping bag. Outcome: me in tears with a stomach ache from laughing so hard.

All the more hilarious, Tim here was dressed as a Jersey Shores guido running around fist pumping as he made sure they didn't crush the audience. This was only semi-successful. (please take note of the facial expressions.)

Younglife's slogan is "you were made for this". I love, in moments such as last night, when a room full of high schoolers are laughing and being ridiculous and it really is true--they were made for this.

A Bike-on-a-Bike

I was outside of work on the phone when this guy just cruised on by acting as if things were normal. I had a number of things I wanted to tell him but mostly, "don't look at me as if what you are doing isn't strange. I will take a picture if I want. You are a freak." Don't hear me wrong, it's not that I don't like him but it isn't everyday that you see this, and he was coming off as if he was just going for a bike ride. Clearly, that is not the case. It's a bike-on-a-bike ride. Duh, guy.

I may have been more baffled than was necessary but I just couldn't help but wonder...who helped him up on there? Did he climb a ladder? What happens when he wants to stop and get off? When he hits a red light? Does he have two bike locks or one? Does he read a lot of Dr. Seuss?

I just wanted to follow him for a mile even. Watch how he adjusts to certain situations. See other people's reactions to him. Maybe people would even follow him with me. I almost picture it like one of those commercials where one person starts noticing and then (cue the music) it becomes a phenomenom and, all of a sudden, a huge crowd is chasing him.

That's just me.

But, if you have ever wondered what a bike on a bike would be like, this is for you.